The Great Debacle
by dracosandsiris
Summary: After finding out that he's dying, Draco's parents ship him along to a facility that houses children who are sickly. Which totally irks him to no end, until he meets Hermione Granger, an obnoxious know-it-all. Together, they take on other patient's drama, sobbing mothers and their own flaws. It takes time to love a girl who's too irritating but he'll get there, eventually.


After two hospital visits, Draco couldn't wait to get better. As soon as they said that he had developed a little flu, his mother pestered him nonstop about his health, immediately signing him up for regular check-ups every week. Which was quite a bother if he had to say. However, he couldn't fault his mother.

After his mom had lost her younger sister to leukemia, she went completely ballistic. She took her family on a 'healthy' regime, urging them to have a balanced diet and forcing them to the gym every week. It drove Draco mad, he took his complaints to his father, who told him they needed a little talk.

The talk wasn't little at all, if anything it was one of his long speeches where he talked about how his mother loved her family and how she just didn't want any losses again. Draco knew that (obviously), he could never question his mother's love.

He saw how she was with her family during the holidays when the whole family would gather and bicker endlessly. The worrying lines on her forehead were gone and with it replaced a joyous laughter, which his father would melt into.

He also didn't question how strange and big his family was. Both his mom and dad's families would gather every family-declared 'holiday'. He considered it strange too as he didn't understand how a birthday and a death anniversary could ever be a holiday. He brought up the question once and his grandfather would only tell him that it was tradition and move on to discuss the importance of a family legacy. Which earned him a glare from his uncle, Sirius, who then cut of the sentence to correct his ol' gramps useless teaching. This then breaks into a family fight after granpa calls him a hippy—which was a kinder word for drug dealer.

But after his aunt Andromeda had died, his uncle never did raised his voice, opting for silence and the comfort of his drink instead. His mom told him how Sirius loved his aunt dearly. His Aunt helped him get back into the family after being kicked out due to a false accusation involving illegal substances. Draco guessed it was how his grandfather ended up with hippy as a nickname.

He learned not to question his family ever again.

 _Dmdmdmdmdmdmdmdmdmdmdmdmdmdmdmdm_

For a while he thought he was getting better. He carried on and lived life as normal as any 15 year old would. He met up with friends and they would chat endlessly. He kept up with his school work to the best of his ability, he listened in class and took down organized notes.

Draco, fearing his father's wrath if his grades ever fall, did his work diligently. Always keeping in mind his father's profession and his will to make Draco the next successor in his business. He did not look forward to taking over the company and shared his discomfort to his friend Blaise.

Blaise had been his friend for a long time as their fathers were business partners and often set their families up with play dates. They both shared the unwillingness to take over the company, Blaise wanted to pursue a basketball career while Draco opted for something quiet like painting or writing.

"Draco? Mate you're doing the bloody equation wrong." Blaise hissed in his seat. Draco narrowed his eyes, one thing he was _thankful_ for was Blaise's persistence in checking his paper.

"Blaise, I swear I studied more than you. Mind your own paper, you piece of shit." He rolled his eyes but checked to make sure he was right.

Blaise had a brilliant idea of kicking Draco's seat seeing as he sat behind him. This earned a yelp from Draco, a boisterous laugh from the class and the unwanted attention of their math teacher, who raised her right eyebrow and slowly moved to walk to Blaise.

"Mr. Zabini." she stated primly, "I prefer if you do not play around during a quiz. Heavens know how much you need to raise your grades." Which earned her an eye-roll from Blaise and a slight chuckle from the rest of the class.

Draco grinned but soon grimaced as he began to see things in a haze. He thought of how his mother would scold him for missing his morning vitamins and started panicking. His breath became heavier and a head ache, which he ignored a few hours ago, resurrected. Draco heard Blaise mutter a few curse words to him before the girl who sat next to Draco, Pansy, gasped.

"Professor McGonagall! Look at Draco." She shrieked and pointed at him with a pitiful look in her eyes.

Blaise leaned forward and cursed, yet again. "Blimey! Draco, you look like a mini version of how your uncle looked last Christmas."

Draco's head started to pound mercilessly. He saw how Sirius looked last Christmas and he was sure that his uncle looked like a disheveled dog who ran through a marathon in a muddy forest.

The only words Draco proudly managed to conjure between heavy breaths was, "What?

Then he saw how Professor Minnie dashed to him quickly and how startled the rest of the class looked. He wondered if this was how death felt like, a blur of emotions passing through your body, at first it would terrify you but then it turned to reassure you.

He wondered if this was how his Aunt Andromeda had felt before she passed. In the middle of a huge garden where their family had gathered for the annual Malfoy-Black dinner party, she smiled sickly at her relatives, trying to calm herself at midst of the bickering. The world was a blur and the loud screaming soon muffled down.

His mother always mentioned her regrets in bringing his Aunt home, calmly blaming herself for her selfishness and how easily she gave in to Andromeda's wishes. But his mother hadn't been the one to blame that night.

Little Draco had missed playing with his aunt and wailed when he found out she was going to miss the party. So he asked a maid to help him phone the hospital. When he finally got to speak with his aunt, he demanded her to come.

In some little ways, he supposed he was at fault.

 _hghghghghghghghghghghghghghghghghghghghghg_


End file.
